The Garlic Chronicles: Adventures in the land of herbalism.

Today the battle continues with a new chapter added on. Thanks to forethought on the part of my mother in buying a whole chicken at the butchers, and a little help from a recipe made by my gourmet' friend Kressant, I made chicken soup with a few alterations. We've been adding garlic to everything from eggs, to sandwiches and now to the soup and of course eating it raw.
All this garlic reminds me of some of my first experiences with alternative medicine as practiced (or should I say "attempted") by my Mother. Poor Mom... or should I say poor me?
I was ten. I had a cold and a simultaneous ear infection. The remedy? My ears were filled with olive oil and stuffed with cotton balls. Mom had heard how great garlic was. So when the oil didn't work, garlic cloves were placed in my ear. They wouldn't stay put so Mom came up with an ingenious idea.

Masking tape.

Hmm...why am I suddenly reminiscent of Red Green? Oh yes, "Duck Tape... the handyman's favorite tool". I think in Mom's case I could safely change that around to "Masking tape... the herbalists favorite accessory".

She taped those garlic cloves down from ear to face. I was miserable partly because I was so sick and now because some of the tape was in my hair. When she stood back to admire her work, she couldn't help laughing at me laying there miserable, under my puppy dog comforter, with garlic cloves taped to my head. In fact, she thought it was so funny she ran to get a camera!

Her brilliance for natural health didn't stop there. Next came the Echinacea.

My first experience with Echinacea, came not from my mother but rather was prescribed and administered by a boy only two years older. I was playing at the house of some friends. Nathan and Aaron the two oldest boys were both close in age to me. The three of us were running around the kitchen and living room having a towel fight. (We were supposed to be washing the lunch dishes.) The parents found out, we were reprimanded and Nathan, the older and more responsible one was pulled aside for further correction.

Suddenly, Aaron the younger and more mischievous one, decided this would be a wonderful opportunity to pull a prank on me. He pulled me into the kitchen and asked sweetly if I had ever had Echinacea. I shook my head. What was Echinacea? He smiled and explained it was this wonderful tasting stuff their mom always gave them. I was skeptical. After all... this was Aaron. He assured me it was really great and tasted wonderful. He wanted to know if I would like to try some. I shrugged. Sure... why not?

I will always remember how the brown glass bottle looked with the eyedropper top. Aaron untwisted the eyedropper and told me to close my eyes and open my mouth. I did as I was told. The next thing I knew my mouth was filled with a horrible taste like I had never had before. I coughed and ran to the sink to spit it out. Nathan, the nice one, came into the room just then and began chastising Aaron. "What did you do to her!?" Aaron looked meekly on.

Oh well... despite Aaron's early medical bent... Nathan was the one who ended up deciding to be a doctor.

So, after having that experience, you can naturally understand that I was hesitant to take Echinacea from my mother. I think I even cried when she tried to give it to me. Thankfully, Mom is not so easily deterred. She is a very creative woman, and decided to use an idea that I think can be found in any good veterinarians book on to give a dog a pill.

Hide it in it's food.

...and I wondered why my apple juice always tasted strange.